At the southern continent, one Hojo was having an expedition in a jungle area with his so dubbed perfect SOLDIERs that have been enhanced by Minerva cells. He was smirking while looking at a report of what his minions were able to get inside a certain temple.
"Materias that need exorbitant amounts of Mako. I can already feel it try to drain my reserves by just a single touch. Excellent tools of war that will help me take back the world from them." He chuckled as he stored two red Materias. They harbored unimaginable power that a few of his lackeys died and turned to husks due to handling it.
He then entered the ziggurat temple that was akin to the pyramids of the Aztecs. The place was ridden with traps, but his minions have already cleared them and he was looking at the murals and messages of the Ancients.
There he saw the carved murals that the ancients have left for their cousins, the humans. "Fascinating, messages that have been left here for possibly thousands of years." Hojo was interested on the mission of the Ancients and saw that they were indeed the progenitors of life on the planet.
The Cetra spread and sowed life. Creating entire ecosystems with the help of the planet. And came with it was the responsibility of either destroying it or protecting it. Either with the use of the weapon, Omega or Meteor. And its protection left to the white Materia, Holy.
After traversing the temple of the Ancients, at the end of a long hallway. There laid a black Materia that had carved murals behind it. Depicting the consequences of its uses. "Hehe~ Guhahaha! A power that can help me see the weapon?"
Hojo laughed maniacally, he had this undying curiosity to witness Omega and travel through the stars with it. Omega activates when massive damage or loss of life afflicts the planet. The weapon deeming the planet a lost cause, it sucks up all the lifestream. Leaving the planet into a lifeless husk and travels to space with it.
Chaos, its assistant in it all will kill all remaining life as it siphons the lifestream. It will then look for another suitable planet to put the lifestream into. And his morbid curiosity wants to see it happen, in the name of science of course.
So he started planning, the other base at the north has an opening to the lifestream and he could use it. The powerful Materias from earlier can be powered up there along with the black Materia. But he was sure that the pesky twins have access to the white Materia. And even worse, they can use it with their own reserves for sure, especially with Ramiel there.
"Hmmm, I will make more sound plans later. I need to get ahold of the black Materia first." Hojo looked at the carved murals and learned that there was a riddle that needs decrypting. So he spent some time in trying to unlock it.
"Interesting, so this temple is the black Materia itself? The Ancients truly are quite something. Able to transfigure the Materia into this temple so it could not be taken quite easily." Hojo smirked and ordered a relatively weak mook of his to complete the puzzle and transfigure it back to its original form.
He went outside once again and after a few moments, the temple suddenly changed shape and crushed anything that was left inside. "Ahhh, it's quite beautiful if I do say so myself." Hojo smiled at the sight of the black Materia that was floating in the middle of the previous temple.
"Kukuku~ you will definitely be pleased with what I have in store for you, my dear children." Hojo laughed and returned to his den, cooking up a plan in his twisted mind.
__
At Midgar in a deserted place, Ramiel was teaching the magic specialists in the group. Namely, Aerith, Genesis, and Ifalna. "Listen here, I will be showing you the most destructive things you will be ever to create with magic. Compound spells." Ramiel announced and the trainees gulped.
Meanwhile, Alexandra was having a field day with the physical fighters. Cloud, Tifa, Angeal, and Vincent. With the latter being with them due to him not able to push his chaos form to the limit. So she will temper his body first.
"Come on! You hit like a girl wielding a wet noodle!" Alexandra clashed blades with Angeal while Vincent gave cover fire. But Alexandra was catching his bullets with a barrier and his Mako infused bullets cannot penetrate the lattice of dense magic like it was an Aegis.
"You're just ridiculously strong!" Angeal tried a feint with his vanilla sword and swung with the buster sword. Needing its weight and bulk to even try and be even with her tyrannical strength. Vincent frowned and tried using his werewolf form to get a cheeky hit in.
But like she had eyes behind her head, she tilted her neck slightly and his attack went wide. Alex then blocked Angeal's swing with her blade and whacked Vincent on the chin with the pommel. His vision went black for a moment as he swore that she was out to break his skull and jaws open.
"Hey, you think we can fight like that?" Cloud looked at Angeal and Vincent that were fighting for their lives and asked Tifa. "I'm sure we can, I'm preparing a super special move that will blow Alex-nee and Ramiel-nii away!"
She made a fist pump as they ran around and trained their stamina. As Alexandra wanted them to be like machines that could fight for days upon end. Stuck in a loop of nigh eternal training, with capable white mages in the area. They literally cannot quit, it was a perverted training method that will test anyone's will.
They then felt their skin crawl when they saw Ramiel conjure something on his hand. The air in the place thinned as a small sphere formed over his palm. It crackled with lightning and burned brightly.
Ramiel smirked and saw the trainees gulp anxiously at the obviously dangerous ball in his hand. "As you can see, this little sphere I have on my hand is quite impressive." He then juggled it around, but they made no mistake.
Just maintaining the stability of that thing needed immense control. It contained a firaja, thundaja, and aeroja spell all in one. Compressed to the limit with a gravija that made the thing a ticking nuclear bomb that could devastate kilometers of land.
"Oops, I dropped it." He made it slip and it dropped to the ground and everybody hugged the ground in panic. "Nah, I'm just messing with you." He laughed as the sphere was in his total control.
Everybody breathed in a sigh of relief. "Or am I?" He threw it somewhere far away and they watched it travel in a parabola. All eyes on it as it landed unceremoniously. But a magic barrier appeared in front of them and they were blinded by a bright light.
The deafening blast then reached them as the wind cracked with a thunderclap. Fire and wind consumed everything in its reach. Hurricanes of vacuum blades sliced everything, hellfire melted the land, lightning turned the earth into glass.
Earthquakes rumbled as the weaker ones struggled to maintain their balance. "Pretty neat, right? I have a stronger version that uses higher tier spells like a Megaflare, wanna see?" Ramiel chuckled and everybody shook their heads.
"Are you insane? That thing can already wipe out Midgar, it's so destructive." Genesis retorted and they nodded at him. "I wanna see!" Aerith, being the little daredevil that she was, wanted to see everything go kaboom.
"Maybe later." Ramiel laughed and Ifalna chided her daughter. "Now, I will be meddling with your Mako and you will forcibly try to keep it in control." Ramiel riftwalked right behind them and poked them on the nape.
Everybody then frowned immediately as something wasn't right with them. "Did you just jumble our energy?" Ifalna felt it first as she was the most sensitive with Mako. Her reserves were all tangled up like knots.
"Umu, now unravel them and show me some explosions!" Ramiel nodded at them. The two groups would then change training routines and swap teachers every time they run out of magic or get tired enough mentally from the physical training.
"Alexandra, I'll leave them to you." Ramiel looked towards Alex and she nodded, happy with the responsibility. He would then return to Midgar and help Avalanche and Shinra in the construction of a new city.
"Ramiel, I've got some news for you. The director that is handling the weapons department cracked. She's supposedly been in contact with Hojo. They worked in tandem for some time." Lazard called Ramiel and he squinted his eyes, now having a possible lead.
"I'll be on my way." He cut the call and went to Shinra immediately. Ramiel arrived at an isolated room that was meant for interrogations and saw a woman in the room. "So that's her? What's the extent of her involvement with him?"
Lazard gave him a file of what they were able to learn so far and Ramiel frowned deeply. She was the one who Hojo contacted when he escaped from Nibelheim. Hojo put more funds in her development plans for weapons and she armed Deepground.
"I see, so she's basically useless. It's even a miracle she's alive and Hojo didn't dispose of her. He was probably in such a hurry to escape that he wasn't able to. Not that she knows where he is anyways." Ramiel sighed.
Lazard already used the deep dive tech on her from Deepground that they were able to salvage. It was a device that lets people pick on someone's memories. Though special experts were needed to operate it or both the diver and the one it was being used on will go comatose.
"What are we gonna do with her then?" Lazard asked as Scarlet was a bit of a security risk, but they cannot deny that she is one of the most competent people in Shinra. They were able to develop weapons of war that dominated the world because of her team.
"I'm gonna talk to her for a minute." Ramiel went inside and went face to face with her. She was looking quite haggard due to the interrogations, but her eyes still showed strength.
"Ahhh, the hero who liberated the people came. What a pleasure." Her words dripped with sarcasm, but Ramiel didn't give a damn. He wants something and he thought that she would be quite beneficial.
"Scarlet... I've got a question for you. What is it that drives you?" Ramiel sat down and crossed his legs. Leaning on the table as his azure eyes with slitted pupils stared at her own.
She shivered and felt like he was staring right through her soul. So she cut the crap and looked at him seriously. "Simple, to be at the top." Her words were genuine and she had a fire in her eyes. The head of the weapons development wanted only one thing. And that is to be her own person that nobody could touch.
"I see... You've got one shot. What is it that you could do to help me? And are you going to be of use? Because if not, then I think we all know where you'll end up." Ramiel smirked at her and she scoffed.
"What a vicious kid... No, man." She thought that Shinra has nothing on him. She now knew why he was the new leader of the world. He felt the hunger in his eyes. The hunger of an apex predator that will hunt down anything that even takes a step in his territory.
"That's a trick question, you already know what I can provide. Either kill me now or instill me back to my position." But she was a mature woman that have one of the highest ranks in Shinra. Even higher than Lazard. It wasn't an exaggeration to say that she is the backbone of the company's military might.
Ramiel stared at her for a few seconds and closed his eyes. "Hmmm, then you are accepted. Quite a competent woman I see. You will return to your post in a few days, no funny business though." Ramiel smiled at her knowingly. He already has full control of the worldwide network and the intel department is monitoring all calls and messages.
"A wise decision. You know, there are other things I can help with as well." Scarlet hissed and Ramiel raised a brow. "Sure, if you can convince my sister." He shrugged and stood up. Making her confused.
"Now shut up and take a look at this." Ramiel gave her a file and she looked at it. She went wide eyed and was definitely in shock. Staying quiet for a moment before she uttered a word. "M-meowfficers?" (pic)
Ramiel nodded and gave a smile. "Yes, I will conquer this world with those. Cute is justice woman, and they are extremely efficient." Ramiel nodded sagely.
She then chuckled and went to a full blown laugh, until she had tears in her eyes. "Ahhhh... I definitely haven't laughed like that in years. You, I'll help you rule this world. That seems more interesting in comparison to everything that has happened so far."
__
Time flew by and a certain boy from a backwater village was reading the news of what happened in Midgar. "Oh boy! I'm definitely going to Midgar! I'll enter SOLDIER and be the best!" The young boy was pumped.
He wished to go to Midgar with the hopes of fulfilling his dreams. Like all young men and teenage boys. Idolizing the 1st class SOLDIERs, Ramiel and Alexandra who were at the peak of strength and glory.
"Are you now? Stop talking big Zack, you haven't even finished your chores." His mother chided him and he gave a sheepish smile. But he recovered his spunk and cheered. "Yeah, I'm gonna be just like them, just you wait! Believe it!"
__
Thank you for reading everyone, anyways. Ciao.